Thomas Point Shoal Light

The Thomas Point Shoal Light, also known as Thomas Point Shoal Light Station, is a historic lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the United States, and the most recognized lighthouse in Maryland. It is the only screw-pile lighthouse in the bay which stands at its original site. The current structure is a 1½ story hexagonal wooden cottage, equipped with a foghorn as well as the light.[6]

Thomas Point Shoal Light

1999
Location	off Thomas Point at the mouth of the South River in the Chesapeake Bay
Coordinates	38.899°N 76.436°W
Year first constructed	1875
Year first lit	1875
Automated	1986
Foundation	screw-pile
Construction	cast-iron/wood
Tower shape	Square lantern on hexagonal house
Markings / pattern	White with red roof and black lantern
Tower height	15 metre
Focal height	43 feet (13 m)
Original lens	fourth-order Fresnel lens
Current lens	9.8 inches (250 mm) solar-powered lens
Range	White 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) Red 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi)
Characteristic	Flashing white 5 sec, with two red sectors
Fog signal	Horn: 1 every 15 sec
Admiralty number	J2204
ARLHS number	USA-845
USCG number	2-7760[1][2][3]
Heritage	National Historic Landmark, place listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Thomas Point Shoal Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	Kent Island, Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis, Maryland
Area	5 acres (2.0 ha)
Architect	U.S. Lighthouse Service
Architectural style	Screwpile design
NRHP reference No.	75000864[4]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 20, 1975[4]
Designated NHL	January 20, 1999[5]

History

A stone lighthouse was constructed in 1825 on shore at Thomas Point[1] by John Donahoo. It was replaced in 1838 by another stone tower. The point was subject to continuing erosion (which would eventually bring down the lighthouse on the point in 1894),[6] and in 1873 Congress appropriated $20,000 for the construction of a screw-pile structure. With an additional $15,000 appropriation in 1875, the light was built and activated in November of that year.[6] It took 30 workers to set each cast iron beam 12 ft (3.7 m) into the Chesapeake Bay's bottom.[7]

Ice was a perpetual threat to screw-pile lights on the Chesapeake, and in 1877 the original lens was destroyed when it toppled by shaking from ice floes. This lens was replaced, and the additional piles and riprap were placed around the foundation in order to protect it. By 1964 it was the last manned light in the Chesapeake Bay, and it was not automated until 1986. It is currently the last unaltered screwpile cottage-type lighthouse on its original foundation in the Chesapeake Bay.

Preservation

Concerns for its preservation brought it a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1975[4] and National Historic Landmark status in 1999.[5][8]

In 2004, ownership of the lighthouse passed to the city of Annapolis, Maryland, which now maintains the structure in conjunction with Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the Annapolis Maritime Museum, and the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. In 2019, a Lighthouse Society spokesman said that the steel substructure, last replaced in the 1980s, is severely rusted and requires $300,000 in repairs. Fortunately, the cast iron screw pilings remain in sound condition, "as good today as they were 144 years ago", said the Baltimore Sun in reporting on the needed funding in August, 2019.[7]

The United States Coast Guard continues to maintain the navigational aids at the Lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper's former living quarters are open to the public three months out of the year, through organized boat tours departing from Annapolis .[9]

References

1. "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maryland" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
2. Light List, Volume II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2012. p. 74.
3. Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
5. "Thomas Point Shoal Light Station". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
6. "Thomas Point Shoal Light". Inventory of Historic Light Stations. National Park Service. December 27, 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
7. Pacella, Rachael (August 19, 2019). "Thomas Point Lighthouse in need of repairs". Baltimore Sun. p. 2.
8. Ralph Eshelman and Candace Clifford (January 1998). "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Thomas Point Shoal Light Station" (pdf). National Park Service. Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying two photos, exterior, from 1885 and 1990 (139 KB)
9. "Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse". Archived from the original on 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2007-11-21.

Sources

• "Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse: History". Archived from the original on 2007-06-28. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
• Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse - from Lighthousefriends.com
• de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 79.

External links

• The Light in the Bay
• Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
• Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Thomas Point Shoal Light
• Thomas Point Shoal Light, Anne Arundel County, including photo from 1993, at Maryland Historical Trust